TheRecord.com: Highlanders Edge Vikings in Hoops

February 09, 2010
By Mark Bryson, Record staff

Retrieved From: http://news.therecord.com/Sports/article/668341

WATERLOO — For three quarters, the WCI Vikings were either very bad on offence or the Sir John A. Macdonald Highlanders were very good on defence.

It came down to which player was offering an opinion following Tuesday’s 33-30 win by the Highlanders in Waterloo County senior boys basketball league play.

Vikings forward Scott Coghlin said his team had only itself to blame after scoring a paltry 14 points heading into the fourth quarter and finding itself down by a 13-point margin at 27-14.

“We just weren’t aggressive enough on offence,” said the six-foot-five Coghlin, who scored six points in the loss. “We did really well on defence, but on offence, we just didn’t come out hard.”

Highlanders forward Jake Robinet saw it another way.

“We didn’t have the same kind of intensity on defence in the fourth quarter that we did for the first three quarters,” said the six-foot-seven Robinet, who had an 11-point outing.

“I don’t know why but it got away from us a little bit at the end.”

With the win, the Highlanders (10-1) locked up second spot in the standings while the Vikings (9-2) will settle for third. Both teams will receive first-round byes when the playoffs start on Tuesday.

There really wasn’t much in the way of offensive excitement until the Vikings staged their fourth-quarter rally at SJAM.

They made it interesting in a hurry, as Alex Copp started the final frame with a deuce and converted a foul shot. Josh Forler then hit back-to-back treys and just like that, the Vikings were down by four after a 9-0 run.

The teams would go back and forth after that until Copp made it a one-point game at 31-30 with 1:19 left to play.

The score would stay that way until there was 13.1 seconds left on the clock and WCI in possession. Vikings coach Craig Nickel called a timeout but his team turned the ball over and was forced to foul SJAM’s Edam Ame.

Ame, who finished with 11 points, hit both free throws to round out the scoring.

The Highlanders led 9-4 after the first quarter and 18-8 at the half.

With Bluevale (11-0) downing Grand River 60-49 on Tuesday, the league’s three Waterloo entries will finish one-two-three in the standings.

“Must be the water,” quipped Robinet. “I really don’t know.”

The Highlanders played the game without starting guard Ben Reyhani, who was out with an undisclosed injury.